May 12, 2026: HCSD School Board Workshop

001And the end. Heat. Heat. Hey. Good afternoon. I would like to call this workshop to order at 2 PM. We'll begin with our presentations. Item number 126-3741 presentation of the artificial intelligence AI guided framework. Welcome. >> Hello. Can Can you guys hear me good? >> Sure. Do you want to state your name for the record? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Jesse Diaz, supervisor of instructional technology. >> Joe, director of technology and information services. >> Thank you. Madame board chair, board members, and superintendent Pinder. Um we're actually very excited to be presenting this report. As you guys may remember a few months ago, we had presented our AI plan of implementation where we were at the moment and uh the board recommended that we come back with another report once we finalized the framework that we

002were that we had talked about that we were in the in the midst of of working. um we engaged that work that the first AI task force uh 2526 we're calling it because it is the first one um composed of districtwide stakeholders so from staff administrators district administrators school administrators parents and students this task force met on three separate occasions to look at the policy discuss us talk about how we could um simplify that, right? How we could make it so that it could be uh used in a classroom and by parents to us also understand the expectations. Um we already had policy 75408 in it's it was been adopted since January of 2025. So we've already had a policy in place approved by the board. But again, our goal was to make that policy

003a little bit more uh a document that will be more friendly to all that have to implement it. Um, so this is the agenda what we're going to be going over. Um, I'm not going to read that, but you have it in front of you probably. We're off. Okay. So, we're going to go ahead and and talk about the context and purpose of this uh guidance framework. The reason we need to have a guidance framework is because again the policy can be broad. It can be misinterpreted if there isn't some kind of guidance and this team worked together to um develop this uh guidance. I think one of our stated goals was to make it clearer and easier to understand for teachers, administrators, and students how to properly use AI under the under the policy

004and what would be allowable, not allowable, and what would work best for students and teachers in the classroom. Uh it's very easy to say this is our policy. Sometimes it's not as easy to determine >> how exactly that would look in a classroom or how it is modeled. So that was one of our main goals in presenting this framework is to give a more broad and clear understanding of the policy to the individuals that are most affected by it and they so they wouldn't be tripped up or would have the resources they need in the classroom in order to be successful. Absolutely. And as Mr. Mto mentioned it is a companion to the policy. So it doesn't take the place of the policy or uh redirect. It is just uh providing additional information for interpretation.

005So, as you can see, it is a companion. It is also establishing AI as a tool and not a replacement in any way for a teacher. There's no way that AI can replace our educators. You need guidance. Uh, however, as a tool, it can be useful if there are guidelines in place, which is another one of the pro uh reasons for this committee to work on this um guidance. And we are calling it a living resource because it's not set in stone. Yes, it's going to be in in place um once approved by the board and it would be our our way of of assisting teachers and parents as we navigate this together. But it will be refreshed. It will be updated every year as technology evolves and changes and things get added to what

006we're using. >> And the idea is to be proactive, not reactive, right? to get out in front of this so we can give adequate guardrails and adequate guidance to our teachers and students and administrators so they're not tripped up. Any new technology has great benefits but also can have major pitfalls like anything. It depends on how people use it and what they use it for. So we wanted to provide them with a good framework and a guidance so they're using it in the most effective and uh ethical way possible. >> Yeah, absolutely. Which brings us to the governance. Why why is this important? Why should we be thinking about these things? Well, as Mr. Model mentioned, the advent of AI has changed a lot of things. It's made it possible for people who don't necessarily

007know a lot about the dangers of cyerspace and everything that's out there to become very dangerous just by telling a chatbot, hey, make this for me or whatnot. So it is an urgent situation that we address in the sense of we need to give the right information, the right guidance because it's not something that we can say this is going to go away or we don't have to worry about this. No, we want to be proactive and that's exactly what we're doing. Um the thing is, let's face it, AI is a genie that was let out of the bottle. It's not going to go away whether we like it or not. So we need to teach our students and teachers how to use in the most effective and safest way possible. We have many statutes.

008we must comply with such as COPA and FIRA. We have to make sure we're not doing things with AI that could compromise student data and safety and the student data and other data we contain in our systems. So, it's it was I thought it was Jesse and I both thought this was very important that we create a framework to make it clear policy is great, but sometimes the policy doesn't is not necessarily understandable for the average person as to what exactly is the stent or the limitations of that policy. So this framework aims to create a a guide if you per se if you want to say to how to manage our risk and make sure we're not stepping over those lines. Absolutely. And on the educational side we are trying to be proactive in

009the sense we understand that our students are going to encounter AI when they leave our schools when they get to high uh to the university when they get to trade schools. AI is being used in in um pretty much every educational environment right now. And therefore, while yes, we have to be safe and we have to provide the right information, we can't ignore it. And we can't put our kids at a disadvantage compared to other students. We I think I said this at the last the last time I was here. AI the future AI is not going to take everyone's jobs. People who don't know how to use AI are going to lose their jobs. you know, if if you don't know how to use it, it at some moment there's going to be someone

010that can use it to their advantage or to the advantage of the company or whatever institution and that's who's going to be have uh you know, it's going to be the people we're looking for. And while people today, it's the buzz word today, everyone AI, AI for everything, it's actually been with us for quite some time. >> It wasn't always called AI. It wasn't always called machine learning. uh the basis of it's been around for some quite some time and you'll find it in your cell phones, your computers, uh various devices in your home. It's just becoming more and more capable and it's kind of like computers and there's a thing called Moore's law how we kept doubling computer power every so often. Well, we're seeing that with AI now. So, we've passed that precipice

011of saying, hey, we don't do we want or do not want that. It's here. So, we have to deal with it. and one it could be advantageous or two we can let it >> cause a disaster. So let's avoid the disaster. >> Absolutely. Which brings us to our guiding principles. We did want to have uh a way of of prioritizing uh the way it should be used. And these guiding principles, we have them right here. Learning first. It it's if it's being used in a classroom, it should be for learning. So that's really important. And it's not just it's not shouldn't be an answer machine. There should be learning involved. Teacher guided use especially in elementary. In fact the guidance establishes that that elementary students should not be engaging AI if there isn't direct teacher

012supervision ethical right and responsible use which is what Mr. M was addressing just a few minutes ago. Um inclusion and access. AI opens doors of inclusion like never before. supports for students who can benefit, our ELELLL population, students with disabilities, students that need certain uh ways for the content to be delivered. AI has really opened doors for that and has u opened new uh gateways I would say to making instruction accessible. um transparency as well and finally uh privacy and safety which is um more on Mr. a model side of the building, but he takes it very seriously. The whole department does, and so do we. Uh we want to make sure our students information is absolutely safe. So, in other words, this guidance is going to let teachers know when you're using co-pilot. This

013is what you don't do there. You do not enter this type of information. You do not put PII or personally identifiable information in anything. You're analyzing some scores. That's awesome. you're taking advantage of something that can take a uh something that shouldn't be taking up teachers time if there's a machine that can do it, you know, analyzing something numbers, but it's got to be done in a safe way. So, we have an expected way for this to be used. As I was saying, we want to give guidance. We don't just want to say here it is, you know, good luck with that. That is not what we're trying to do. Um, it needs to be explicit, purpose specific, and bounded. So explicit. If AI is being used, the student should know exactly how he or

014she is using AI for this assignment. So it shouldn't be something like here's the homework assignment, you can use AI for that. That's not it. There has to be a task. It has to be connected to a goal. And teachers know this. We I'm a former teacher. This is our bread and butter. Having a task, having a goal, an objective. It's just that if we're going to have AI involved, it also needs to have that kind of structure. There needs to be a reason for it. Purpose specific and bounded. They should also know what they're not supposed to do, where they're not supposed to go. And and this is going to be key for us to be successful. >> I think it goes back to what we said before. It's supposed to be a tool,

015not a replacement for thinking, learning, or the teacher itself themselves. It's supposed to be just another tool in their toolbox to get to where they need to get, but it does not replace their ability to critically think, learn, or do what they're supposed to do. >> Absolutely. The the the policy outlines how it's supposed to be used. Now, we have taken those ways that the policy established and clarified them a bit. So these are the five ways AI is supposed to be used or can be used in an instructional setting for research assistance, data analysis, language translation, writing assistance, and that doesn't mean write my essay, it's writing assistance, right? We won't get into that. And accountability, I'm sorry, accessibility supports, which I was talking about earlier. These are the five main ways. If when

016AI is going to be implemented in the classroom, for example, if a teacher is interested in using it, the first thing one of my instructional texts is going to say to them when they're there supporting them to write the lesson plan like they do is, "Okay, so which of these five is that going to fall in?" They're not just going to let them, you know, they're not going to write a plan just to include AI because it's fun or because we have it. No, it there has to be a purpose to the AI. How is the AI helping this lesson? How is it helping this teaching and learning experience? In order for that to be true, it's got to fall in one of those five. One of those five will show us that yes, this

017is a good purpose for this to be used in this lesson, whether it's from K to 12. It's there has to be a reason for it. And there's examples, by the way. It we don't just put that in the and you guys saw I did send you guys the entire thing. There are actual examples. the teachers can look at this is what it looks like because sometimes a lot of us we're visual learners but other you know need to just see examples and then okay I get it I see how where we're supposed to be going with this. This is the implementation by grade levels. And um these are actual examples of how it could I'm not going to read that verbatim, but you can see that those that's those are examples of how it

018could be happening in elementary, middle or high school. So in other words, we are not waiting till kids are in high school so that they can start learning especially the part that has to do with it being a digital citizen from elementary. We have to be talking about digital citizenship because whether we talk to them or not about it, social media exists and it's out there. And those parents that are able to take care of their kids and shield them from it, I applaud that. I applaud it because it's uh it's a scary place social media. If they can, they should be doing everything they can. But at some point, they're going to know that some of these things exist. And if at least from our end, we too are telling them, hey, you have

019to be safe, you don't give personal information when you're anywhere, you don't do this, you don't do that, you stay safe, then we're doing our part, too. >> And and our intention with this implementation guide is to try and put up the best possible guard rails to keep the students as safe as possible. I mean, we only have so much we can do, but anything we technologically can, we will do. Uh we don't want them just be able to go out of general AI and do anything they want. No, we're trying to limit on the level age specific and appropriate so they are not getting into a situation where uh they can get into a place we really don't want them. And that goes for all levels of school even up to high school because

020as as Mr. Deaz was saying uh sometimes the internet can be a scary place. Most definitely. Now we want to briefly address tools, ethics and staff use because it's not just students. it we are to some degree we are all using AI at some level and and for certain tasks but let's talk about the tools that they can use currently and I say currently because this is something that's going to be as I said before it'll be updated next year we'll have other tools we're in the initial stage so we have to understand that there will be changes but we want to take a conservative approach starting with this you know we don't want to say use everything so we're we've taken by grade level just being as careful as possible. So as you can

021see from K to 5 all they can use is Canva AI Canva is educationally focused so we know that they are responsible with you know the content and it's only with teacher supervision so there should be no homework assignments involving AI for elementary kids there should be nothing to do at home because we want to make sure that there is teacher direction and we're not saying use it or do it. We're saying if the teacher, you know, this is a teacher's prerogative if how up to what point they want to integrate technology at this level in their classroom. Well, it needs to be supervised by the teacher if it's K to 5. Now from grade six to 8 now we add one more layer of support which is KIGO AI. Um KIGO belongs to Khan

022Academy and so far we're very impressed with the product. It is um it's not just your common AI. It is a AI that is it has educational guard rails. So it doesn't give them the answer. It it walks them through a forest to get to their answer, which I like. >> And it's not only is not an answer provider, it also is a walled garden. They can't ask or try and generate things that are inappropriate, things that would be in violation of the law or the privacy statute. So these are instead of a general purpose AI like chat GTP there are guardrails to protect age appropriate to the students. So that's one of the reasons why it's been limited to these particular AIs at this time. Correct. And as Mr. Diaz says as the technology

023advances and changes we'll may have to change the approved ones but we will we'll be proactive about that. right? From 9 to 12, then we add one more because now we're talking about kids that are about to go to college, right? Or to, you know, the army or to wherever they're going to go, but they're going to go somewhere and they're going to be a part of society and they're going to be productive and they're going to need to know that there are other models that are being used out there and how they're being used. So, we ours, the one we're allowing is co-pilot for our high school students. It is a Microsoft product. that is within our environment. So we have you know certain controls over it and um but again still like Mr.

024model said with guard rails they have to mention if they're using it there has to be a task for it cannot just be AI is allowed that's not it they need to have a reason for it so clearly defined task specific reasons purpose and explicit teacher uh permission that's another thing they have to have permission from the teacher it's not automatically given that AI is allowed just because it's the yes the policy says that it's allowable but the teacher has at the end of the day the the prerogative over whether it's going to be used or not. That is the teachers. >> Mr. Diaz, I think Mr. Johnson, do you have a question? Rolling, >> sir. >> Yeah, I I I've been looking at some of the statute that was just passed and one of

025the things you haven't talked about is there has to be an op out feature for parents. There also has to be accountability where the parent can access the child's account at the provider, the vendor's site. Are we allowing them to go to the vendor to see what information they have about their child? Um the other two is the grade restrictions which you've talked about in uh K to six. It has to be direct supervision of a teacher. How are we going to monitor the teacher to make sure she's doing that in the class? he or she in the classroom and not telling the kid, "Well, go home and do this," which they cannot do. It has to be direct supervision, >> right? >> Um, and in the chat box restrictions, there is to be none

026according to what I'm reading. So, has that been taken into account? And how are you going to monitor the companies? and how are we going to monitor the the the teachers to make sure they're abiding by what is now in statute so we as a district don't get into trouble with the state. >> That is one of the reasons we chosen Canva and Kamingo. They are designed specifically to comply statutoily with the ability for parents to be able to see histories and so forth. >> Was Canva the policy was the program we all had to back away from? >> No, no, that's Canvas. That's a that's a learning management system. That's something very different. Um, Canva AI is a very is a very different system. They're not related even though they have a very similar

027name. Um, unfortunately, you find that a lot in software. People like to get very similar names and it makes it very confusing. Uh, these these are specifically designed for the education space and to be compliant. So, um, I'm sure you're working on it. They will be able to see what their children are doing. they can opt out and say no we don't want and we can restrict the machines and devices in these grade levels to only those particular AIS we're able to say yes if you're in this grade to this grade this is all you can because of your profile in the system this is the only thing you can you can go to and use um >> are those machines going to stay in in school yes they're in school >> they can't take

028them home and use them >> these are these are schoolbased machines correct there are classroom sets depending on the grade level whether it's in all classrooms or core classrooms. They're classroom schoolbased devices. We do no longer have a onetoone program below high school. >> I I'm I'm in favor of of of moving forward in this direction. I just want to make sure that the district is protected. >> Absolutely. >> The district isn't left in a lurch, >> especially with the like as I the May 26 is when when the governor signed a lot that this is into law. >> So, we're looking at things that haven't been fully vetted. So we can be extremely careful how we go forward, >> right? >> And not expose our systems to potential damage >> or the children. >>

029And that also means that we may need to look at this list later and say, okay, this or that tool are not going to comply with that. Since it's not a law yet, we can't act just yet. But once it's if that's in place and it means exactly that and it's the only way to be interpreted, it's possible that we may have to say this tool cannot be used because it's not in compliance. We've done that before >> and that's what I understand it's been signed signed by the governor. So it's just >> it's already in place the new one because I I haven't had that update about that one. We've been monitoring it but >> Okay. But yeah, that's one of the reasons for choosing things like Camingo and not saying oh chat GTP

030for everyone or chat GTP we can't track we can't provide that information. So these are educationalbased AI specifically that's why they called it a walled garden. >> It's not a goal. >> Are they providing access to the parents where they can look at their child's account to see what they've been doing? >> That's a requirement under the law. >> Rick Kamigo can we just >> Kamingo? I know. Absolutely. Oh, we'll have to turn it on. >> Yeah. Absolutely. None of this has been released yet. We're still talking >> and we just started to implement Kamigo too. It's a new >> but Canva AI can parents can look at as well. >> I have to verify Canva AI. I'm not entirely sure at this point. I know Kamingo can that >> Kamingo can and you know

031again if this is something that becomes a requirement by the state we may have to then say okay well the only one available on our machines because remember we can't control what kids have on their phones okay and and on other things but at least on our devices we'll say this is the one you can use we can restrict it on their devices >> protect our devices from them importing stuff on their phone >> they're incapable of doing anything on our devices they can uninstall programs. They cannot go to what we restrict them from. On their own personal phones, there's really nothing we can do. >> They can't download anything onto our system. >> No, >> there's no way around it. >> No, there are not administrators on those devices. Teachers can't even install anything.

032We have we have to push things out. We went that way several years ago because of security issues and concerns. So, we have those administratively locked down. There's not a way for them to install programs or anything. In fact, everything they do access is on Class Link. And Class Link we control. It says you can go here, you can go here, you can go here and it'll log you in. They're not even they they can go out to the internet, absolutely. But if they try and download anything, they try and install anything, they cannot. >> Okay. As we mentioned before, the ethical implications are very serious for us and therefore we have outlined prohibited use. Obviously, this is not an all exhaustive list. It doesn't have everything, but it has a lot of the main

033things that we know of that exist and that where AI could be used uh inappropriately. This goes for staff as as also students. You know, obviously we wouldn't expect staff to do any of those things that are on that list there, but you know, it they could un un uh forgot the word, but >> yeah, un thank you. unintentionally a a teacher could have a picture of a student and create something for fun. And if that's not something that was approved or the parents were aware of, it shouldn't be done. It shouldn't be happening. You know, these are very nice tools and they can do a lot of things, but we have to have the appropriate permissions for what we're doing. And I'm sure you've heard of deep fakes. That's stuff that students do and

034others, you know, I mean, not our students, but I'm just saying it happens. That age range is who's doing that kind of thing. And this is prohibited and it's there's going to be language in the student uh code of conduct. That's why we made sure that this AI task force had representatives of HR, of student services, of all these departments that oversee these documents. So there's going to be language in the staff handbook as well addressing these topics having to do with AI. So that way all bases are covered and everyone understands that there is a responsibility with these tools. Um there are >> this is so needed and important because we are seeing children do this um and it needs to be stated. So thank you. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. There's also a list of

035staffed encouraged uses. Again not an all-encompassing list but there are teachers who think of AI and who are sometimes not uh tech oriented and they can't even think of the first thing that they might do with AI. Some of them are just going to push back because they're not. But a list like this could sometimes some of them might say, "Oh, well, I didn't know it could be used that way. I had no idea it could it could do that for me." So, we also want to make this uh document useful to teachers in the sense of of giving them new uh avenues that would allow them to work smarter, not harder, like as the phrase says, and um and use it to their advantage. We have it. I think as long as what you

036said before that this data analysis for instructional improvement I think as long as you're very clear on that stating you cannot put student names information in that with that. >> Absolutely. >> Because I know that they are it's easy to just take the picture of course >> and send it in. >> Yes. And in our professional learning sessions that we've been doing this year that is always on the top of the do not you know we've been giving them that information. Um and going forward it's also we're looking at how can we make this a part of beginning of the year orientation maybe uh like these uh what do we call them microlearning modules where it's you know they watch it and it's maybe not too much time 10 minutes or something but that will

037go over the most important key things that they need to have in mind. So, we're looking, we're exploring different ways to get the information out and to ensure that everyone is aware of the expectations with this. So finally well we're you know this is basically the academic integrity you know again we're going back to the design um the the approach of this by by the teacher knowing why the student is going to be using AI or why they are not that allows he or she to be proactive. So in other words, we're not going to be uh saying, "Oh, you're in trouble because you used it." No. If from the beginning the student knew the student the student knows this is this assignment is no AI for this assignment. We're not integrating it in any

038place. All of that has to be clear from the get-go so that we don't have confusion. So and then we're being proactive and we're not punishing a student later if we did if we weren't clear. So we want to be very clear from the beginning uh with its implementation. Um, student disclosure is also important with uh with regards to transparency, especially in high school. If the student used AI, we're going to expect the student to disclose how did they use AI? You know, how did they use it for the assignment? Does it comply with what was expected if the student was told first write your own paragraph about how our behaviors impact water quality? Right? We tell the kids they're writing their own paragraph first, right? That would be the the way to not just,

039okay, write a paragraph and use AI. What are they all going to do? They're going to write that question and have AI pop up a paragraph and here you go. That's not how it should be. So, you write your own paragraph first or type it and then after that, now ask AI, what other questions could I have I asked myself before writing this paragraph? How else could I have improved the ideas in this paragraph? But notice that it's not asking for another paragraph. It's how can I improve my paragraph. The AI may give them questions, right? Might give them some questions after that. And then considering those questions, there may be a revision and an editing of that paragraph. What's happening? Learning is happening. And the it's not an answer machine at that point. It's

040pretty much a tutor or a mentor at that point of the student. See, that's appropriate use of AI. For those things to happen, there has to be clear instructions, expectations, and then we'll really be taking advantage of um of this technology that we have. >> I know that you also said earlier that you were going to have um before school trainings and like micro >> classes and sessions. >> How will this look for our echool teachers because I feel like they >> they are facing this daily. um how are they relaying this message before you know the class begins or reminding students right that's an avenue I feel like we need to address as well and maybe the training for the e school teachers as well >> yeah I mean they they participate in the

041professional learning that we offer for the most part my understanding is that they have access but we could also look into how can we collaborate more though with teachers of e school because yes you're right their their world revolves around this technology And I'm sure at this point they have been facing all kinds of challenges. You're right. Okay. Um these are just some closing considerations. Um again, I do believe that there will be an annual review process. So probably, you know, the beginning of the school year, we'll be convening another AI task force so that we can continue to have parents involved, students involved. Um, as this evolves, we want to hear all those voices, but we also want to have a yearly review where we can sit down and look at the uh this

042um guidance and see what needs to be adapted, what needs to change. even though it could happen during the year, but there should at least be one moment in the year where we really sit down kind of like we do with the other documents uh that are kind of um uh institutional documents like our student code of conduct, the student progression plan and all of those. We would want to take a look at it every year and review and revise. Um it's a living resource. So, it's especially one like this where every day there's something new and something that we have to be aware of and we have to um have some kind of instructions or guidance for, right? But, um it definitely would have to be an ongoing process, >> right? Literally changing throughout

043the year. >> What you're talking about is a very comprehensive change of a lot of policies. Excuse me. Because if we find abuse, we don't have a policy written for student or or staff that abuses AI, we may not be able to take action. >> The AI policy. >> So, we have a lot of policies to consider >> and it could be either or. You could have a teacher who collaborates, say, with students to uh use AI to do the assignment, which would go against everything you're talking about. >> How do we punish the employee? How do we punish the students? If there's nothing written in in our policy, we cannot take action against them. >> There there is actually an AI policy that outlines some of this. I know there's some policy also that's

044been updated in the last year or so from Niola outlining this into various other areas. Now, as far as what we do or what we decide as an institution as far as punishment, that wouldn't necessarily be policy, but it does say yes, you can be punished. I believe it says up until termination. Correct. Serious. Well, I I I think you know some of this we have to work through as a board and and set standards for. Now, I'm not saying this is going to happen and I hope hope honestly hope it doesn't. I don't think anybody any of our staff would do that intentionally honestly and kids of course they're going to experiment but that aspect we have to be on top of and we have to unroll this very slowly and every program we

045have that comes up for renewal is supposed to have a performance indic indicator plan behind it. I'm happy to say that two of the items on tonight's agenda do. Thank you very much Mrs. Downey for those, by the way. And and without those where I think this board probably has the opinion they're a little more reluctant to have programs continue in a second or third year if there's no indication how effective they've been on the first year. So we need to understand or have a measurement in place. Am I not right, Mrs. Dval? We have to have some way to measure the effectiveness of stopping these pro or or stopping bad behavior of AI. And I'm all in favor of it. I just I'm very cautious because it can get out of control very easily

046because as you know the AI out there today uh as a student uses it learns their thinking and their their habits and tailors itself to act with that student. So, we have to be careful on where that goes, whether it goes in a highly productive positive view or does it quickly go south. I'm not saying it will, but we have to be able to recognize it and stop it so it doesn't happen. That's what concerns me. I'm not opposed to any of this. I think it's a great start, but I think we also have to look at the other side of it and make sure we have policies in place. So, if something happens, somebody can't say, "Well, I didn't know that." policy doesn't say I I'd be terminated if I did this or a

047kid would be uh expelled if he did that. We need to outline it. We need to develop policy for all kinds of behaviors. Thank you. And and I understand that you're you're you're referring to specificity, but but the there is the policy does exist and and it also references other policies like you know defamation and bullying and all that which can sometimes be involved in how the AI is being used or any technology for that matter but and they do reference the other policies. So at least that that is important and it is there. Yeah, that's what I wanted to touch on is that a lot of our other policies um you know, cheating if it's for a student or uh professional practices if it's for a teacher doesn't necessarily say that it's >> related

048to this or that uh tool and this is a tool. So if you use this tool in the wrong way, it kicks in those other policies that we already have in place like cheating, plagiarism, um professional practices for adults and things like that that we currently have. So yes, there are some policies that we'll need to look at, >> but there are already policies in place that if they use this tool to break those policies, just like if they lo use another tool, then there's already consequences, some many of them built in. >> And that's a great advantage of this work that was done by this team because we actually did that all the policies that are woven into this, we looked at them, we said, "Oh, this falls with under this, you know, this

049is bullying." Yes, it's but this is cyber bullying. you know, well, it's using technology to do the same thing. This falls under this. So, we were able to organize them in such a way that um at least now we have a framework to start from and and definitely we're going to have to continue to grow and and and um make it better, but I I think it's a good foundation to start from. >> I agree. Board members, do you have any further discussion or questions? >> Mr. Vall, sorry. >> I just want to thank you so much for your work on this. Uh, I know it's very detailed, probably um encompasses more things than you anticipated to start with, but you're doing a great job and thank you so much. >> Thank you, ma'am. >>

050Robert, >> yeah, I I just wanted to mention that there was a comprehensive AI bill of rights that was considered by the legislature, but they didn't adopt it. >> That's what I thought. >> Yeah. >> Okay, good. They did not adopt that. >> I was watching that. I was actually We were monitoring that. >> Yeah, we were laughing that >> it came close, but they didn't adopt it at the end. Yes, it it's it's was, you know, it has some spots that it's going to make it hard for us. If it doesn't pass exactly the way it is, we might have to shut down a lot of things and say you can use this one thing, you know, which is >> we don't really exactly have money to go buy magic schools or anything. >>

051Yeah, we we that's one of the reasons to addressing some of your fears, Mr. Johnson, was that yes, a general purpose like chat GTP does in fact harvest data and tailor itself. That's one of the reasons we went with the quote I like saying walled garden because that's part of what they don't do. And of course, we have to monitor it. We can't just trust it. We do have to monitor and make sure it's doing what it's supposed to do. >> I I know you're very good at what you do, Mr. Auto, and I and I appreciate it. >> I tell everybody I had black hair until last year I started working here. >> I I am not opposed to it whatsoever. I just want to make Oh, absolutely not. We we protect the district

052as best we can. >> Absolutely. And your your your questions are absolutely salient and important. We appreciate the questions and we want to keep uh protecting our kids and doing the best that we're doing for them. >> This is a great start. Absolutely. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Thank you for your time today. >> Thank you. >> We'll move on to item number two, 26-3754, review and tenative approval of the 2627 instructional personal evaluation system manual. Good afternoon. When you get ready, if you please would introduce yourself. Alexa Neil, supervisor of human resources. >> Carrie Wilson, supervisor of school counseling services. Thank you, ladies. >> Good afternoon, board chair, school board members, and superintendent, Mr. Pender. We are here this afternoon to provide an overview of the updates for the 2026 2027 instructional evaluation manual.

053Overall, the revisions to the manual were very minimal. The primary update invi involved the addition of the new school counselor evaluation rubric aligned to the recently adopted Florida school counselor standards. To ensure the rubric was developed thoughtfully and collaboratively, we put together a committee of school counselors from all different levels, elementary, middle, and high school. Um, along with administrators from all different levels, a school board member, an HCTA representative, and district personnel, the team worked together to develop an evaluation rubric that reflects the professional responsibilities and standards specific to school counselors. Following the work, the proposed rubric was shared with all school counselors and review and feedback was given to Mrs. Carrie Wilson and um the HCTA president, Miss Mserio. This process provided counselors throughout the district an opportunity to review the changes and provide

054input before we finalized it. Additionally, anou was already signed by HCTA and reflect agreement and approval of the revisions in the manual. As we move forward with the implementation, the district also plans to provide professional learning opportunities for both administrators and school counselors to ensure the new rubric is clearly understood and implemented consistently across all schools. Thank you for your time and consideration. We are happy to answer any questions. >> Anyone have any questions? >> Mr. Paul, >> I don't have a a question. Just another thank you. Um, you all involved many people in this change and it's this evaluation for counselors has been needed for a long long time. Um, and so I really appreciate the work and the energy of the committee to develop a really good solid evaluation for those counselors. So,

055thank you. >> Thank you. >> I would like I'd like to say that I appreciate the looks. I think that that was very helpful when reading through all of this as well. It's important to have examples and to know what to look for. So, >> Thank you. Any further questions or discussion? Okay, thank you for your time. Move on to item number 326-3762. Review of the 2023 through 2028 strategic plan priority 2 and priority 3. Welcome. Thank you for joining us. If you could please um introduce yourself and then you may begin. >> Yes. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to present our progress uh on priority two which is talent management. Uh at this point I'd like to have our team introduce themselves. I'm Barbara KD, assistant superintendent of business and support operations.

056>> I'm Don Leo Leo, coordinator of retention. >> Good afternoon. Aldilda Fonte, supervisor risk and benefits. >> Alexa Neil, supervisor of human resources, >> and Alexis Brown, director of human resources. >> Thank you. You may begin. So, we'll take a look at priority two, which is talent management. Some of the strategies one, two, and three are listed here, and we're going to review how we met those measurements and how we're doing in each of those areas. I >> you already clicked. Okay. So, as you know, one of our initiatives was our grow your own, which includes things like our um teachermies at some of our high schools, our ATS program, our partnership with Bloomboard. Um, and we will review each one of those in depth in upcoming slides, which it happens to be the next

057one. So, we also have um power to teacher programs with St. Leo, paid internship. So the school psychologist and school counselor, we now have a paid internship option for each of those. And this year, I believe we are recognizing tonight the first cohort of graduates for the Saint Leo program that was for educational leadership. And we also have a cohort um with GCU for the school counselors. So to measure and review the success of the associate teacher program, as you can see year-over-year in implementation, we had 34. Then we went to 56 and we're down to 37. But what I would like to highlight is that we had 26 ATS participants graduate and 23 of those are successfully teaching and filling vacancies within our classrooms as certified teachers. May I ask what happened to the

058other three? >> Some of them had to leave whether it be for personal or medical or whatever reasons and so they've followed the agreement when they leave and they dissolve their partnership with Hernando. However, we have had contact with um two of them and they may perspectively be coming back to the district. So, we remain in contact with them. But overall for a a retention rate that's pretty stellar. Yeah. >> What is the agreement if they leave? >> Um it's an aggregate of what they what we paid for their tuition based on how many years they worked for us. >> So and they pay that back. Thank you. Of course. And I'll let you talk about the next slide. >> Okay. So here is um some data from the two cohorts that have graduated so

059far. So um the color coding I just wanted to explain that the yellow um this is in comparison to the district. So these are all teachers we removed the names obviously but ATS teachers and um the yellow is increased proficiency. So, from PM1 to PM2, they have increased proficiency. If they're coded um color-coded green, they have increased proficiency and they're above the district average with their scores. And then if they are in the blue, they are higher than the district average. So, you see for the most part um none of them are in the red. If they were in the red, that would mean that they were performing way below. Um, so all of them were performing for the most part um above district or at least had increased proficiency. What's our plan for the

060ones that are in yellow? >> So they still had increased proficiency. They're just not above the district average, but they do get support. We have the two TOSAs that go out and support, Eric and Lauren, as well as their sitebased support for them as well. >> Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Switch to the next. So, next we'll take a look at classroom vacancies for instructional positions. It peaked around 139 in 2023. And as you can see that green line that slopes down, that is the decrease in vacancies in classroom positions. It's overall a 30% reduction. However, when we add in the addition of the ATS instructors, we've actually improved by 63%. >> Is this at the beginning of the school year? >> No, this is year-over-year. So, we are going back all the way to

061July of 22 is where that 127 starts. It peaked a little in 2023 and then has gradually reduced all the way down. And this was taken as of March so as not to confuse folks. I know that we have some reduced um positions that are now going back into the classroom. So, this was before all of that. So, this was true year-over-year vacancy improvements. >> Yeah, you can you um so these are just more of the grow your own programs and I just wanted to highlight the counselor degree program. There's five scholarships. Um they will complete in February of 2028 their program. So um we listed the five sites that those teachers are located at that are in the program. And then the ed leadership like we mentioned earlier, there were 10 scholarships. Two chose

062to self-pay um and go through the program and 11 graduated um this month. So one left um the district. So they of course took care of that with the agreement. Um but 11 did graduate and they are able to start applying for assistant principal positions. >> Have we looked at the the need for obviously we need our ESSE teachers and speech pathologist maybe adding >> so I'm glad that you mentioned that. So something that we do with our partnership with Wombardo is there is an option for an ESSE route. And while we will most likely not be increasing ATS participation in this year for classroom vacancies, we most certainly look at our special classrooms like our EBD rooms or our self-contained rooms where most times um the staff members that are in there, say the

063power professional, they've been there for a while and they knows those students and that classroom better and most certainly better than a substitute. So we have explored that option and continue to explore to fill those vacancies that are most difficult with those that are already vested in those areas. Thank you. >> On the sorry is it on Miss Rodriguez >> on the speech therapist? What are we doing to bring those professionals in? >> We would definitely need to explore other avenues. right now I believe that we have reached out and some some colleges will have interns come here but we're most likely competing with outside entities for speech language which is why sometimes those positions are harder to fill. >> So how are we right now making sure that the students are getting the therapy

064that they need? >> If I'm not mistaken they would get contracted services if we don't have the position currently filled. But from what my understanding is is we're not even able to get contracted therapist. >> I will look into that for you. Absolutely. But >> And what are we paying versus uh the outside world? >> Well, well, it's an instructional salary. So, it starts at the 50,000 a year. So, sometimes when they're >> speech therapist, >> correct? Because they are part of the instructional bargaining unit. >> That I don't know, but it's more than $50,000 a year. They make 100 an hour >> outside. >> I guess what I what I'm trying to say is >> we're nowhere near the ballpark. >> No, that's >> we have to look at that and refigure that and

065maybe take that away from an instructional position. >> That would have to be >> different kind of position because >> I I hear what you're saying. >> Whatever the end game is, it really doesn't matter how we get there. We just need to get to where we have >> speech therapist and I'm not sure how to get there. So, >> I thought they got paid more. I thought we were paying them 75 to start at one point. >> No, we did a sub thing at one of the board meetings to try to get them in as like contractual to come in. >> I'm going back a few years, Michelle. I'm going back into uh 2017 and 18. I thought we were offering 75,000 for speech therapists and whatnot. >> I don't remember, but I think

066maybe you remember that, M. >> My question right now, let's go back to what I was asking. I do remember that Mark there was an additional >> supplement >> like a critical shortage. >> Yes. >> So yet we were offering more at one time. >> But my question is is right now how are we ensuring that these students get the therapy that they need. >> Thank you. I think that the we have the contracted services that we're offering um and that we're putting in and then if they if we don't have services we offer compens compensatory services to uh make up the services that might have been missed as we were getting everything in place. I think it was this year we may have missed some people some students and they're going to get comp

067uh compensatory service. >> That's correct. Maybe we should look at >> but naturally >> off offering a supplement like we did in the past so we can attract more speech therapists to be on our staff and we wouldn't have that issue about outsourcing it. >> But naturally I don't think that you're not all doing all that you can to get the staff >> hired and to get the therapists that we need for the students. By all means don't take this the wrong way. I think you are trying. I you can't get what you can't get. So I get that. But still sitting here as a parent and as a board member, I'm still perplexed on what is our goal because these kids are missing the therapy that they need at the moment. And as they

068age, as they're missing months of it and they're getting older and older, you can't go back. So the they have to be that mark needs to be hit at that moment and not delayed. So I'm not sure what to do here. This is something that's been on my mind. It's been in my heart. I do hear from parents. I do hear from staff. I do hear from paras. I do hear from teachers all the way across the board. I don't know how to fix that. >> I do want to say they they get a a $9,100 supplement >> that is in their contract. >> So, we can talk money all day. The money doesn't matter extra. Just wanted to say >> the money doesn't matter at the end of the day. Where are the warm

069bodies that are actually giving this care that are giving the therapy? That's what I'm worried about. Forget the dollars. Forget the money. Forget that you had to pay each one a million dollars. whatever it may be, where are the people? How are we making sure that these students are getting this compensatory care um that's services that they get later when the later it's still being missed? So, at the end of the day, that's my biggest thing is I'm so concerned over that and it's been year after year we're going through this and I understand it's not most districts are facing this problem. It we're not alone. It's not Hernando County's sole problem. I'm sure it's everywhere. But have you guys called other districts? Have you found out the districts that do have the the help

070they that they do have the therapist? Have you found out maybe where are they getting them from? What's happening? Have we did we do a deep dive like that? Because all I get told every time I call is we're doing the best we can. We just don't have the therapist. We just can't give the services at this moment. One of the things that we might be able to look at is talking to the university partners that we already have and see if they would be willing to develop something because that's kind of where we are when it comes to positions that are difficult to fill. It is like you're saying those boots on the ground and collecting together and figuring out what kind of program could we grow because to say are they coming out

071from the colleges that exist if they are they're not coming to school districts. So, it would be along the same lines. Are there folks within our district that maybe have a calling for that that we could try and work with universities and see if they would be willing to develop something? We can absolutely look into that. >> I would love to think outside of the box like you're doing right now as you're looking at me talking about this. Let's brainstorm. Let's figure this out. Not for one minute do I think not any of you along with Mrs. Cropley and everybody in this district that if we had it, we'd grab it. We would have the people. I think that wholeheartedly. I think that you're not in here every day going through eight hours of work

072a day or 10 or 12, whatever you really put in. I don't think that you're doing that because you don't care. I think everything you guys are trying to do is trying to make sure we get to every student and that they get the services they need. But it's not being accomplished. So therefore, we all know this and the parents know it and everybody I'm talking to knows it. So it's still a struggle. So in my heart I just feel so bad sometimes that when we miss it these kids are, you know, it's kind of like learning to read and you miss the moment and then it gets harder and harder and it's just hard to go back and a lot of times with the speech therapy you need to hit it at the target

073at the moment that those kids need need the service and then when you go back months at a time that delay can be years. It can be a devastating moment for those children to be able to come back from. So, I just would like to figure out I wouldn't mind working with all of you. I wouldn't mind us all trying to collaborate and figure out where we can if we can call other districts, if we can call other sources. There's a lot of things I'm sure we can sit and try to brainstorm together. >> Not that you're not already, but you know, they always say that there's there's power in numbers. So, maybe if we all put our heads together, we can try to think of what can we do to piggy back off of

074other places and whatever they're doing to make it happen. I just it's been weighing on me and I'm the one that takes the calls. I take the hits and I'm the one having to try to explain why they're not getting the services and really there's not an explanation and there's nothing and then I call you guys and try to ask the district but what can you can't say anything more than what I'm saying. So I'm not really sure what the solution is unless all of us went back to school and we became that right away and that's not going to happen. So therefore h where do we find these individuals? I I what when we offered back in 2017 or 18 the 75,000 we still had a shortage. So there has to be a secondary

075reason why people don't want to come into the school district and work for us versus going to private practice and doing the same thing charging $100 an hour. >> Mrs. Cropley, do you know if it's a money thing? We have we we need to look at why these people don't want to commit. >> Well, they have to have a master's degree, too. It's a specialized degree. That's one thing. And then they they get that and they have the flexibility of having private. Like personally, my son's speech teacher worked in the school system, decided to come out. She's doing it privately, making double the money and having a flexible schedule doing it herself. >> So, >> money is part of the issue. It's money is a big >> I think money is probably the biggest issue

076>> and having the degree you have to to have that masters. I know that we can allow them to have their bachelors but it's a specialized field. >> A lot of our teachers have masters or or doctors. So I mean I don't I don't think >> it has to be a specialized speech. So then you would have an you wouldn't have >> is an issue. I I think it's there's got to be a reason they they're they don't want to come into education whether it's us or another district. there's something keeping them out >> and earlier when I said for a moment set the money aside just for a moment and let's look at all the other districts other positions where are they outsourcing how are they getting that's all I mean by that yes

077I think money is the driving factor I think that's a thousand% accurate is that they come in they're doing a lot of work they have a huge case load for minimal pay so I believe that you know it's no different than the nurses being an RN opposed to coming in and working for a district as an RN after you have your degree and you've worked hard to get there and then you have other RNs working in hospitals in different settings and they're making a lot more money. So, it's kind of the same. So, money is the biggest component of it all, but at the end of the day, I'm saying just set that aside for a second and let's see, pretend we had all the money in the world to offer for a second and

078let's see where we can grab the people and then talk about pay and see what we can do and see what how other districts are capturing these therapists. >> Miss Cropley. >> Yes. So our ESSE department recognizing the need for speech language has been a critical shortage area really for several years. We have job descriptions um starting from intern all the way up to the M's level and the M's level also supervises the interns. So the effort was made to try to create that pipeline and get the interns in work with colleges. Um I know the department has reached out to all the surrounding colleges. One of the issues is our distance from the colleges for their supervisors to come out and and oversee them. So that is one of the issues. Um so as

079far as the structure is concerned, we have substitute all the way up to you all approved the substitute job description to get some retired people back in to help with maybe people that are on FMLA or short short-term vacancies. We have not had any takers on that. Um but we do have the mechanism. it's there if needed for any of the ESE therapists. Um so where we're losing them is we there's a lot of virtual services out there and so um it's yes contracted services. We have tapped into as many live uh humans as possible in the area that will come into our schools for contracted services. Um, but a lot of the people that are are getting certified um and have the qualifications are enjoying the benefit of working from home and offering virtual

080speech services. >> I think it would be beneficial for us to advertise more like maybe advertise this on for this. >> If you follow their ESC, it's it's daily, weekly, blah blah blah blah. Yeah, they are. >> Are there any other platforms that we can use besides >> social media? I'm sure they advertise other places, but I mean again, here's your thing. Just like she said, virtual, which I am against virtual for speech because I don't think children >> I'm with you. You might as well not going to get it. But but I mean that's an option when when we have parents that are saying we're not getting service. Well, here's your service because that's all we're going to be able >> What kind of service is that? it it's not a service but >>

081and we are doing that on smaller scales right now in the absence of uh you know some live people in the older grades. Um the the team is also using uh virtual services for our obligation to our private schools um and charter schools in order to um provide those services so free up people for our you know students here in Hernando County. So, we're trying to maximize as best we can. >> Why not offer a potential employee a hybrid schedule where they could do in person and virtual? Maybe maybe that would be attractive to some people where they could get out and actually face to face with a a student with an issue and then spend follow-up time virtually. Excuse me. that might that might appeal to somebody if we could possibly have a hybrid

082system where we could figure out how to use them both together. >> We can look at that. It again they are in the instructional bargaining unit. So that's that's a whole different uh conversation, but it definitely isn't completely off the table. I would think I I I would think that the uh the union would not be opposed to us trying to solve a problem that's going to help the children and not hurt their goals. So maybe you could work to I'm sure they would work together with you to find a solution. >> Okay. So thank you. You guys will continue to work, right? >> Yes. >> Thank you. You want to Oh, sorry, Mr. Pender. >> So, I think coming back to that original thought that we had at the beginning is if we want

083to have people within our system doing live speech language services. I think the the the the best idea that I can think of that based on past experience and past data that we've just presented is the grow your own concept. We have the pipeline and the job description, but looking at looking within looking within our own system of employees that we have um that might want to if we could offer the educational services for them to become certified. um and then start within our system and if not within our community of you know Hernando County because that's where we're getting I think the uh from the ATS program those people staying because they're already in our community. Um so um I know that Miss Rodriguez offered to work with you guys to develop that. I

084think that's a good place to start while we're looking at all these other options. But I think that's the that's the long-term fix or a longer term fix to our problem um for students and then these other things of other ideas are more short-term or intermediate fixes. So that would be my suggestion. >> Well, that's where I was going with the whole question to start with with ESSE and speech. Could we do both? Grow your own instead of like now that we've seen the success with the ATS program and the vacancies are going smaller, we have big vacancies in ESSE and in speech. So, can we move forward with working on taking >> and I hate to tell you guys, if you look at our OT's and our PTs in our schools, they've been in

085our districts for 35 or longer years. They're not always going to be here. We're not getting new people coming in. So sooner or later we're going to have them that we're not going to have PT and OT. We're going to have big problems with it. And the problem is is because exactly what you said in order to go to school a lot of a lot of will go and be a PTA or an SLPA or an OTAA, which is an assistant that works under somebody that has their degree. So they're not going the full time to get their degree because it's a lot. So that's where you're losing it, right? And then on top of it, you go out to regular, put on your own, go on your own, you're making big bucks compared to

086what anything we could ever touch in a school system. So maybe an idea might be trying to catch them or capture younger generations that are coming up in high school, like a CTE program for therapies. Maybe something like that we could look at with with >> Beth to grow your own, >> right? Grow your own, but do it in the high school level so they want to do it. So they're maybe but once again if we're not competitive once they get that degree and they go to school if we're not competitive with pay we're going to be in the same position because once they get there and then they're working with us and they talk to other people in their field and other people have different jobs and they're making double and triple what do

087they do? they turn in their resignation and they go over and they work if we pay their education we generally require x amount of years before they can move on. >> Yes. >> For a preliminary I think something we could look at is speaking to those that have the assistant level and getting them to progress to the full lensure >> so it's faster. >> So it's a it's a smaller program and we might be able to do that and they're already vested in our community. They know our students. So we will definitely follow up on that. >> Maybe the committee that you're talking about that we talked originally for speech and language can just be a committee to brainstorm around critical needs >> and maybe future critical needs to and take a chunk at a

088time and see where we can make some headway and some movement. >> Yes. >> Are you going to reach out to me or do you want me to reach out to you? >> We'll reach out to you. We'll do a little bit of research first. This way we have something to present and then we'll reach out to you. >> Okay. Okay. You may continue. Thank you. Um the next slide we're going to talk about our areas of ESOL and gifted. So we currently offer avenues for folks to obtain their ESOL endorsement um sometimes at no cost to them because we continue to see a spike in our ESOL student population. One thing that we've started to do probably two or three years ago um after consulting with other districts is as folks came on board

089we would triage where they are and if they should receive an ESOL student what category would that put them in. So then we had a projected understanding of what the requirements would be. So, what I mean by that, if they came on as an elementary ed instructor, we know there's a good probability that they will be flagged for out of field. It keeps going in and out. I don't know. So, we let them know that at the beginning when they're hired. See if that works. Okay. So, we let them know that when they're hired and kind of give them an arc of how many programs they need to complete in order to become in compliance. Um so this next slide is all about our professional growth. Um so some of the different things that we've

090offered over the course of the year. So we continue to do the staff survey. Um that those results will be coming to the board the next workshop I believe for the board. Um and then we also have surveys that we implemented through HR like for new staff. um staff that are exiting for the ATS program and we look at all that feedback and we have done frontline trainings for evaluations with our new administrators. Um sitebased ethics trainings, assistant assistant principal trainings. Um we started this year a confidential secretary training with all admin and confidential secretaries um which had great success and feedback. And then of course um the professional development department does the teacher and action day every single year which is a huge success as well. And um last year it was up to

0911,760 teachers and administrators who attended the sessions. Some other initiatives that have kind of helped with the retention process has been the obvious lobbying for the 5-year temporary certificate. That made a huge different for those that were entering as an alternative career. A lot of times they would get into that first year and there were so many requirements that they kind of couldn't get their footing and it was hard to, you know, fly the plane while you're still building it. So this allows them to become a little bit more acclimated. It allows us to provide additional supports and it takes a village. It's the instructional technology specialists that go out. Professional learning has their toes that go out. HR has our toes. It's all hands- on deck and we try to meet folks where they

092are to ensure that they're successful. Um we also try and get out to all of the new teacher meetings, show our face. A lot of times, um, it's just having that go-to person. They need to recognize that people are available to help them and it's okay to ask questions. Um, a lot of times when you're an alt teacher, it's like you get that statement of eligibility and it's kind of your golden ticket, but then you forget that there's all these requirements that you have to complete in order to make it to professional certification. So Dawn and professional learning and we all really try really hard to make it as seamless and smooth as possible so that they don't get to that fifth year and realize oh my gosh I have all this to complete. So

093um some of the other things that we've done are I'll let you talk about the staff spotlight. >> Um so a couple of our favorite things are the staff spotlights. So those are staff members. They can click the link on the website um and nominate other staff members or colleagues. Um so that's where we actually go and visit the sites. We've done those a few times this year. We have one more left this year that we'll do at the end of May with the remaining people that have been nominated, but we try to make it a huge deal. We go in with the administrators. We have a little gift bag for them and a certificate and the kids cheer them on. We, you know, tell them how amazing they are. So, that's been a huge

094success. The staff love it. And then High- Five Fridays, if you haven't seen those on social media, we push those out every Friday and it's a Canva presentation. And those are parents, um, families in the community who recognize teachers, staff members in the schools for anything positive that they've done. So, some people write paragraphs, some just write a couple words, but we put that out on social media and share it um on social media for everyone to see. And then we also send them a certificate and a little goodie um through the pony for that. So those are a couple of the things that we really enjoy doing to recognize them. >> And then just quickly, some of the other initiatives, as you know, through collective bargaining, we've been able to offer, especially for our

095transportation department, who when we get to the next slide, you'll see how their vacancies have improved, but just offering incentives for folks to stay with us and our instructional staff. we have the ability to reimburse some of those um testing fees and any coursework that they might have to complete. There is a threshold, but they would get with Don Leo and she helps guide them through the documentation that's needed so we can get that reimbured for them. So, this chart is similar to the one that we did for the school instructional vacancies. However, this is districtwide and as you can see, it's a steady trend down in all areas. Um, I particularly would like to highlight our bus operators. They've decreased the vacancies by 53%. So, I know that Ralph and Anthony and all of

096them over at transportation have been working diligently and they work seamlessly with HR. We want to get folks in, get them cleared, get them trained, and get them on the road as quickly as possible. And then we want to get them to stay. So it has been very successful and yeah. So I'm going to talk a little about a little bit about wellness and benefits. The district is committed. Can you guys hear me? Okay. The district is committed to fostering a culture of wellness that supports the physical, mental, and overall well-being of the employees through the com comprehensive and structured wellness initiative. The district continues to provide a variety of programs and opportunities designed to encourage health, lifestyle engagement, and work life balance. So, I'm not going to go ahead and read everything that I

097put on there, but I'm going to go ahead and give you a quick summary. If you have any questions, just let me know. So, we provide wellness opportunities via mail, online, and in person. They include health education, wellness resources, challenge incentives, wellness fairs, and vendor participation. We also have a fitness center with over 600 members of which more than 180 use the facility regularly. >> Can you explain where the fitness center is located? >> Yeah, Hernando County Education Foundation. Remember that building? That's where we at. >> Okay, perfect. >> Um, we've had uh we also have information and pictures of the wellness center online on our website. Uh, we have had wellness challenges since 2017, resulting in over 23,000 pounds lost countywide. >> Can you repeat that number, please? >> 23,000. >> That's amazing. That's

098awesome. Um challenges include district-wide uh participation, community involvement, community participation, friendly uh competitive uh focusing on fitness, weight track and um health lifestyle habits. So we try to incorporate all of that in the wellness programs. We receive positive feedbacks for every from everybody who participates. Any questions on the wellness side of it all? We love the program. We would wish and hope for people to participate in the future more and more people. Every year we have seen an increase but we would like to see a lot more for sure. >> Thank you. Thank you for all you do. >> Thank you. So for the benefits side um we have a great benefits team and when I say a team I'm not just including the four people that work in our department. I'm talking about um

099the unions, the insurance committee, the board, and the vendors that work with us. So, we have a great team dealing with the benefits and trying to get the best benefits at low cost for our employees. So, we look at the surrounding counties and we provide that information to administrators um so that we can show that we're being consistent with surrounding counties. We worked with the insurance committee to evaluate current plans and costs to identify and provide employees with potential cost savings without weakening the benefits that we have. In 2021 and 2024, we completed requests for proposals to ensure that we provided employees with the best options available to them. In 2025, we re-evaluated the contingency plan with Florida Blue and advised the board that we predict a premium increase to employees if we continue with

100the contingency plan. The board voted to absorb the current costs and terminate the agreement with Florida Blue, resulting on cost savings. Over the last five years, the district and the board have demonstrated a long-standing commitment to employees by consistently reviewing plans, negotiating costs, and contributing to employee insurance premiums. >> One of the things this board has been consistent about is keeping that board uh the employee contribution down. >> Right. >> I'm look I was looking to see that be reduced where it gets wiped out entirely for an employee, but we haven't had much luck. >> We've managed to keep it steady with consistent >> great. Yes, you're right. >> Just great. It's just too bad that we can't do it when you add the family. That's when the problem >> becomes >> major. >> I

101guess that's a conversation for >> for later. That's right. >> Um but we've been able to maintain the no increase um to the richest plan. So they've continuously paid in the last five years the same amount. And that's the richest plan. That's really good plan. Um a lot of the surrounding counties don't even have a plan that matches that. and we've been able to reduce the premium for the other plans, the ones that have a deductible applied to it. Um, we remain committed to offering the best possible benefits to Hernando County School District employees and we continue to explore ways to support their health, wellness, and financial security. Any questions? >> Thank you. Great job. >> Council, you have any closing comments? >> No closing comments. >> All right, school board. >> Oh, we have

102one more. I do apologize. >> That's what I thought. >> Oh, priority three is coming. Sorry, priority three. I jumped ahead. >> It's in that same Oh, it was updated. Okay. I apologize. >> Sorry. >> All right. If you please introduce yourself and then you may begin. Sure. Lisa Cropley, executive director of student support services, and I have the opportunity to represent priority three in our strategic plan for safe and healthy learning environment. I want to introduce the team that is responsible for this strategic plan priority. We have Holly Longo, uh, director of food and nutrition services, Angel Pagan, director of safe schools, Mr. Krognelli, executive director of support operations, and Mr. Ralph Leaf, he is our transportation director and behind me I have Jill Colassa, our director of student services and Angela Miller Royal

103is our coordinator of student support services. Correct. So um just skipping through to review our strategies and the measurements that we are using. Um the first strategy is to make sure that our students have access to high quality nutritious meals and we are going to measure that by our annual participation um in the school breakfast and lunch program as well as our summer feeding program. The next was uh making sure that our staff and students are prepared in the event of a critical incident happening on campus. So, we're going to measure uh our success in that from student and staff surveys and if they feel safe at school. Our third strategy um was to improve our resiliency and life skills in our students and making sure that we have mental health supports in place at

104each one of our schools. Um, we really looked at the data for this and wanted to make sure that we were really focusing on students who were uh sent for pre-expulsion processes that were drugreated. That was our highest number. Um, and then we definitely want to make sure that we're increasing uh student participation in that tobacco and uh drug awareness training and that all of our 6 through 12 students will receive the resiliency training and that uh is statutoily required as well. Um strategy four is about improving that school connection uh with our um students and home and monitoring all all those early warning data signs. So attendance is is a big one uh as well as you know failing grades things like that. We had a goal of increasing our uh number of students

105who had 90% or better attendance and I think you saw some of that data when we presented in priority one. So you'll see a little bit more of that again here. Um the other big goal was to make sure it's statutoily required that each district maintain at least 80% uh participation in the youth and mental health first aid awareness training for certain job codes. Um and so you'll see some positive data here for that as we continue to monitor it. Uh transportation world, we wanted to make sure that we were looking at the accidents that the specifically the accidents that uh caused points to be added. Um and we also wanted to make sure that we improved our on-time arrivals. Um and this was definitely an initiative. a few years ago, Ralph pulled a a

106committee together and you'll see the ongoing uh improvement in results in there. And then lastly, we wanted to make sure that we were providing staff and students with a clean campus. And then part of that uh when we developed the strategic plan was looking at the number of uh ESTs, environmental service technicians that were um still in need of training to go to the next level. So, uh, you'll see some positive, uh, data when it comes to that. So, at this point, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Longo. Hello, members of the board. Madame Chair, can you hear me? >> Okay. >> Yes. >> So, um, a couple things that we continue to do, uh, in food services is we do our annual food show. This year we decided to hit the lower

107levels and have it at Challenger K8 because we figured those kids are going to be with us for a few more years. Um and so we found that that was very successful. We continue to add monthly popups to our menus. So if it's taco day, we'll do tacos. Um if it's a specialty thing um um like quinoa, we'll add that to the menu for the day so the kids have an opportunity to try different menu options. We um are always looking to increase the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, which is why we've included salad bar on pretty much all of our kiddos menus now and as well as the munchables. Um, and so as we continue to try to work within the regulations of the state, um, we're con always continuing to reduce sugar,

108uh, sodium, ultrarocessed foods, um, and work with vendors that specifically formulate, um, our K through 12 foods. So there's that. Okay. Our professional development. So, this this one is near and dear to my heart because the people part of food and nutrition um is what I feel is most important right up there with feeding the kids. Um we continue to build on our learning management system for all staff. They do monthly continuing education. Um we do in-person leadership training every month for our managers and our assistant managers. Um, this year we're looking to do workshops uh specifically for those that have been in management for a long time and and that need to increase some of their skills. So, we might be hitting you up, Mr. Superintendent, to come and give a talk for us

109if that's okay. Um, we continue to implement onboarding. We've um expanded our onboarding to two days in district office so we can impart everything we need to impart to them before we set them loose on the schools. Um leadership academy continues to be successful. We're finishing our second year of leadership academy. We've had seven that have graduated academy, four have gone into assistant manager roles, one in a manager role and one as a district trainer. So, we feel that that curriculum is working really well for us and we continue to build on that every year. Um, we continue to excel in our recognition programs. We just did uh school lunch hero. You might have seen them all out there in their new blue t-shirts with our core values on there. Um, and employee of the

110month. Um, quarterly internal safety audits. We do those twice a year where we look at all equipment and make sure that the kitchens are running safely and effectively. Um we have at this point um replaced probably 90% of our kitchen equipment in terms of ovens and things like that. Uh we've replaced serving lines at Pinerove, JD Floyd, Chocachy. We're working on Nature Coast. We're working on Parrot and Endeavor for serving lines and Parrot for a walk-in cooler and freezer. Uh we're also in the middle of a flooring project, Mr. Pinder. Yes. Uh where we're looking to resurface, uh clean and seal all the flooring in all of the kitchens because they're pretty they're pretty horrendous. Um so we'll continue to go kitchen by kitchen and upgrade things as we move along. Um, we're also looking

111to go to a new uh digital temperature and inventory monitoring system which which will help us better uh monitor refrigeration equipment um 24/7. So that's that's pretty much all that's happening there. Um as far as meals are concerned, we continue to move up fast and furious. Um, if you notice, there was a drop in lunch meals for the 2425 school year as compared to 2324, and that was thanks to Milton and Hela. Um, otherwise, we continued to grow. um summer meals. Uh we went from 21,000 breakfast, 33,000 lunch, and 2324 to 50,000 breakfast, 54,000 lunch um in 2425. We also received a um an award from the Florida Department of Agriculture this year for the most increase in meals served for summer feeding. So, we were hoping to do more uh sites this year, but

112due to construction, we um we're down to two. But we're gonna we're going to make that work for us, and we're going to we're going to continue to feed the community. Um that is our goal. >> Can you tell us what two sites that will be? >> Uh yes, ma'am. That will be Brooksville and West Hernando Middle School. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Any questions for me on my end? >> Any questions? >> Okay, >> Miss Rodriguez. the high school lunches. Yes, >> we get rave reviews. >> Yes, >> they're really happy. >> The middle school >> looks forward to the high school lunch. >> Yes. Yes. >> Is there anything we can ever do to >> Yes. We have a modified version of everything coming this fall. So, we've really sat down and looked

113at the menus, looked where we could save money, and looked where we could um spend a little more money on some higher quality items for the kids. So, middle school will closely mimic high school this coming school year. So, and our dietician has resigned, which is okay because we're we're managing and we're going to make that happen for the new school year. So, >> that's good to hear. The other thing was the complaint that all the high schoolers had was our vending machines. >> Yes. >> So, can you talk a little bit about that? >> We're in the middle of our vending machine project that we're working on with a couple different companies. We're just working on quotes right now. Um the goal for us is to not only have those alle cart items but

114to utilize the uh vending machine as another serving line so we can actually put reimburseable meals in those uh vending machines. And this gives the students an opportunity to go to another area instead of waiting online in the cafeteria because I understand as a as a shy person that that could be overwhelming to some people that have uh social anxiety to come into this cafeteria with all these kids. Um, we're hoping to start that in the high school, the new school year. We're hoping to start with at least two machines in each in each high school. >> So, what does that look like in the middle of the day when somebody's blood sugar crashing? >> At least from us, those machines can be on all day. >> Okay. >> As long as they're >> You

115and I have discussed the conraints of 2:00, they were not able to access it. By then, school's out. >> Those can be on all day as long as they belong to food service. Okay. So, and we're looking at implementing that one >> this fall. Yes. >> Thank you for all you do. >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon. So, um here in officer safe schools, our goals are as uh noted up on the uh screen, um we've had several goals that we like to reach out to our staff and students. And um I I think we've been doing a a very good job with that um training and providing those trainings as needed. Uh one of those being uh you know when we do our uh drop in drills at the schools um we provide uh

116afteraction report with feedback on those strengths and weaknesses um to help them improve. um that seems to be a successful uh drill that um I'm sure the principles look forward to, but it is uh an important part of um making sure that drills are being practiced the way they should. Um we also have our active asalent um training which is done annually. Um we uh are expected to seek 100% um attendance uh and participation and completion of the um training in the vector training. Uh it's mandated by state and uh although it's a bit of a challenge sometimes but uh we do uh reach that goal and um and get that participation we are requesting. Um we also do our annual safety summit uh with all the safety teams from all our schools and um

117we provide different types of breakout sessions um along with um keynote speakers and and review topics of safety uh to help them improve um with the safety and security at the schools. We I also participate and so does my team in the principal and assistant principal meeting on a monthly basis where we share um all the safety updates and best practices along with um we also um implement our reunification training. Uh usually it's done during the safety summit. Uh like to do something in the fall, but um we do a plan update as well and make sure we review all the protocols we have for those. Um and then looking at our data um from it appears that uh again we are about the same from last year from 25 uh uh from 25 to

11826. So we're at 90% on parent agreement that the schools are uh that they strongly agree that their child is safe. Uh the students um it went up a small amount but again it's is high and and and we're on the right track. Um, we did not get any um a survey back for staff, so I'm not sure where those numbers are at right now, but I anticipate that they also measure um somewhere near um last year's um numbers in the 90s, high 90s. Um but as far as uh the other thing I would just like to add that wasn't in here, we also uh review our emergency operations plan. We shared um new uh a new chart that we put in all our classrooms along with in our uh control rooms um so that

119there is appropriate guidance on what those expectations are for um those emergencies that we uh could encounter at any of our schools. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Any questions? >> Thank you. Okay. Good afternoon. As Miss Cropley shared, strategy three is to improve student resiliency and life skills by providing school-based mental health supports. Uh so we do this um we want to annually reduce the number of students who are referred to pre-expulsions for tobacco and drug offenses. Um so you can see to the right on that graph that year to date in March at the time that we loaded this up, it had reduced to 34. um referrals for pre-expulsions. Uh also we have increased our district social workers assigned to each school. Um we've had three funding sources for that and the support

120of the school board over the last few years to uh stress upon the importance of that role at each of our schools. Uh we've also increased our uh substance use educator group. For years we had two then we went to three and then we jumped to five. So that's been a wonderful intervention. We also expanded our online substance use and tobacco class uh giving parents the opportunity to attend those as well as there is a new state uh online course that students can use which is just for tobacos. Uh and also um we have a memorandum of understanding with an agency called impact uh to provide counseling intensive services for our students and families. All right. Some other ways that we do that. Don't not to be confused. This is another impact um separate from

121the counseling service. This is the name of the groups that the Hernando uh community coalition utilizes uh that replaced SWAT, the old SWAT team. Um so there's five schools that have those and 150 student members do participate in that. Between those clubs and our team, uh we put out a lot of anti- vaping educational materials. Um in addition uh Miss Cropley mentioned our resiliency and our required instruction. There are multiple uh topics that we have to teach by statute. Um we also have to infuse resiliency into those. So things like empathy, um honesty, things like that. So, we created a calendar with student services staff using evidence-based uh uh research programs and then also we were really happy to work with children's advocacy center um throughout the state. A lot of the children's advocacy centers

122do provide the child trafficking prevention and they use the Mon'nique Burr and that's been very successful the last few years. They just do that for the grades K through five. Okay, the next slide. Continuing to improve student uh resiliency and life skills. Uh we have um increasing parent student participation in our tobacco and drug awareness training. Uh as you can see on that graph, uh we have a year to date uh for the students. Last year it was 303. This year it was 185. I was able to get that data. We are at 203. So that has increased our student education and then our parents to uh as of this was 189 I'm sorry 270 was students 203 is parents. Um so definitely the offering of the online courses for the parents uh has really

123helped. Um they have requested that. We've had wonderful feedback. We have wonderful feedback for in-person and and our uh online program and they all are learning. Um some of the things we've done to address this uh our staff uses parent square to send messages and awareness about classes. They directly invite the student. They call home and remind the parents and the students of of the class. Um and then based on that participation, this says 22 parents, but that has increased to over 40. How long are the classes? Is it one class or is it multiple? >> The inperson or the online? >> The online is one class and approximately how long does that take? >> Less than two hours. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Okay. >> Okay. Good afternoon. So for priority three, strategy four,

124one of the goals was to um annually increase the number of students who have 90% or better average daily attendance. So last year we did increase that by 7%. Um as of uh the end of April this year, we're um the data indicates 10% increase. So, we're hoping we can hang on to uh some of that through the month of April, which is I mean, I'm sorry, the month of May, which is our challenging month as we get uh wrap up the school year. So, while increasing the students with 90% attendance, we have also um I'd like to report decreased the number uh the percentage of students that are chronically absent, which those are our students that have uh 21 or 21 or more um absences. So, last year we decreased that by 6%. Um

125this year uh at the end of April we were looking at an additional decrease of 4%. So we're reaching those goals. Um continuing on with our strategy four uh one of the other goals was to reduce the number of students with two or more early two or more early warning indicators. Um but you can see the data that we have um as of uh March this year we have um decreased those numbers as well. And our uh students that we monitor have two or more ear early warning uh indicators which um the indicators are grades, discipline um and attendance. Uh by statute we have to maintain 80% compliant uh 80% of our stu staff that have job codes that require youth for mental mental health first aid training. Um we are excited that uh our

126goal was to maintain the 80% we are at 93%. So that's very exciting. We are um working diligently with our staff to make sure everybody gets that training because it is it's very important. Um I know I was watching on social media um Parrot they did a big um perfect attendance and had a huge ice cream social and I was floored at how many students >> Yeah. >> had perfect attendance. >> Absolutely. >> I love the incentives that the schools are buying in to do with the students as well to try to get them in. >> Absolutely. and and we um actually had the opportunity to go out and serve some of the students ice cream. So, it was it's fun. Um they're they're they're really working hard to try to figure out ways particularly

127this time of the year when we have our uh what we call the spring slump and there's fatigue and testing and they're ready for summer. Um so, continuing with um strategy four, um we will uh continue to monitor our early warning systems um our orderly warning signs. I don't know why I keep stumbling on that. um through our MTSS teachers and meetings and um continuing to monitor that data through educ tier two and three interventions um for our youth uh for mental health first aid. So, uh student services monitors the job codes. So, DOE puts out job codes um that specifically require the training. Um and that is a report that we run and we identify the staff that are required to take the training that have not yet take the training. Um and we

128identify those staff. we let um let them know, let their administrators know, and then we offer monthly trainings so that they're constantly having that um opportunity to receive that training. Um at student services each year, we visit uh each school um at the beginning of the school year, review uh the attendance procedures, um answer questions, um do some training if there's some new staff there. Um we conduct informal work through walkthroughs throughout the year. Um we provide uh social media marketing um just going through attendance works and just they put out promotional uh materials for social media and we share those out with the school so they can put those out on their social media. Um we continue with our Skyward automatic letters for attendance warnings. We've had some uh positive input with those this

129year where it goes out to the parents automatically lets them know what days their students have missed um and then it has statue and everything on it. So, we've had some positive feedback with that. Um, we we implemented truency court this year, which we had our first court date in April, um, April 30th of this year. So, we're going to follow up with that in the summer. Um, that was, um, successful, I would say. Um, and then our our new reporting our new reporting uh, requirement this year is that we report to the school board quarterly our truency data. And so, I've been working with staff monitoring that data. And for quarters one, two, and three, we've been in compliance. So, >> great job. Thank you. >> Any questions, staff, for board members, for the

130staff? >> No. Okay, moving on. >> Good afternoon. As we continue with our strategy with strategy five, provide safe and on-time transportation to and from school. Um, as you can see, to try to reduce the number of at fault accidents, those are the drivers who receive safe driver points through our safe driver committee. Um in 2022 23 we were at 35. Last year we went to 31 and we had one more this year than we did last year. Um and then our ontime arrivals from 2223 we were at 82% on time arrival. Um in 2324 we went to 88% and last year we went to 98%. The big change in that was when we um swept swept swapped the middle schools and the elementary schools. That made a huge different. And then pairing um Parrot

131and uh Hernando and also um Chocach and Challenger um was was a big um factor in that um on time arrival. That's something that one of those key indicators that I do every morning is I'll find out what the uh our on-time arrival is by um category, high school, middle school, elementary every morning. So, I have a running total of that throughout the year. Um if we have a driver that does receive safe driver points, they have to go through a two-hour training after that. um and we'll review um the bus video and provide some um some tools to help them um some refresher training for that. Um as I said, the safe um the safe driver plan and then also um the Bell schedule committee that we worked really hard to get to the

132point with last year with the changes that we were able to implement. um and then parent schools and then we continue to monitor the arrivals every day for schools. >> So looking at the percentages, fantastic way to go. Congratulations on that. >> Um I know our goal is to get them to school on time. the drop off is that percentage the same on the drop off >> like the drop the rate for percentage to drop them off at the end of the day. So we are constantly getting reports of the bus being late the bus being late. So I wonder what your percentage is for dropping them at home because I don't monitor that. >> You don't monitor that. And I just wondered how or what's happening from they're able to get them to school

133on time, but then in the afternoon, are we having drivers not report back to work or what's the >> the high school's challenge >> because we don't have enough drivers and the way >> dispatch does a tremendous job putting everything together to get everybody there and to get them home. Um, but we bring people in. I have staff driving to get everyone home because we don't, even though we're doing pretty well driver-wise, we're still not where we need to be utility drivers because of people calling out workman's comp. But I can um definitely look at that and see what our It's going to be good at the high school normally and then from there it kind of tapers off. >> Yeah. Just wondering, you know, what what's happening from morning to afternoon? If you can

134get them there on time, why what's happening where we can't get them home on time? >> Most of it staffing. >> Yeah. >> They don't want to leave. >> Yeah. All right, Mr. Johnson. >> Yeah. Thank you. I I I I will say, Ralph, I've had less calls this year about buses being late. And the one thing I really want to commend you on is uh some of the parents have said, "Hey, this bus stop is wrong or this one's in the wrong place." And it's slight adjustments and they're taken care of and they're done right away. one case the bus driver was doing the route backwards on that block for whatever reason and parking in the wrong place. It was on a a secondary road rather than a tertiary road that you got changed

135and it helped the situation immensely. So I did want to say thank you. >> I appreciate it. I have good staff. >> Miss Rodriguez, >> same here. Last year we had an abundance of calls. This year I haven't seen hardly any. So whatever you're doing, keep it up. How are we looking when we revamped the east side along with Parrot and Hernando High? How is that going? >> It's going pretty well. Um the the biggest challenges when the drivers on the east side aren't aren't working. They're off for a live. But really for the east side has gone very very well. The pairing has been actually I wasn't anyone that was in the meeting. I didn't think it would work. It's really worked really, really well pairing Parrot and Hernando. Um, and we're able to

136because we keep try to keep everything on the east side, we're able to drop Parrot and go get the other three schools. We have some we have some like I do know we have a Nature Coast that goes out um that we can pick go through and do East Side because that's where they're dropping off in the afternoon, but it's gone it's gone really well. That was a much better formula than you were currently using. >> The other thing, um, what does it look like when we expand east side? >> East side for right now. Um, my understanding is is that we're going to use the east side zone. We're going to have for those that are west, we've we are going to create a stop at our bus compound. So, anybody on the west

137side, we're going to have a hub there so they can come wait for the bus at the bus compound because probably what will happen is we'll use a Nature Coast bus that started out there in the morning, comes drops at um Nature Coast. We'll swing through, pick up those students, and then they'll go do their East Side. So, um yeah, it's going to be fun. You're great at chess. >> Yes. >> Right. >> I have to say though, it I love having um the option to go online and put in your address to find out where your bus route is and such. I volunteered at the beginning of the school year and was answering phones and helping parents discover that. And that's a great tool. >> And our our parent app is very successful. >>

138Oh, where's my bus app? I love it. Mhm. >> We have over 15,000 active families that use it. Um we push out an average about 26,000 push notifications which says your child got picked up, dropped off. So that's been very helpful, too. >> It is very helpful. So >> the full disclaimer on the Where's the Bus app, I was not a fan to begin with due to finances and money and just the cost and everything and not sure exactly how it was going to look like and how it was going to be implemented. But now as a parent, my children never rode the bus and my littlest begged to ride and I phoned you and figured out how to get them on the bus. So they wanted to be on the bus. So now two

139out of three ride the bus and they love riding the bus. But that where's the app, the mother loves the app. So, I have to tell you that using it has definitely I've become a fan and um I think it's wonderful because you can see when the kids are getting off, when they're getting picked up, you can see when the when they left the school. I think it's just it's a wonderful app as a parent now that have bus riders. It's it's has been very helpful because it what it also does is it reduces the amount of phone calls into our department because they can just look at on the app and say it's come the bus is here. It's not perfect. Granted, I will not say it's perfect, but it does some pretty amazing

140things. >> And what else is nice is all of a sudden I'm somewhere and I see that they've checked in and they've gotten on the bus and then I remember I have kids and I have to get over to get them. So, it's it's a great reminder with me pick up your kids a thousand things in a day and I see that and I'm like, "Oh, okay. Perfect. They're going to be off soon." So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon. I'm here to talk about uh strategy six of priority three providing students and staff a clean uh campus environment. Our first goal was to get all the uh ESTs u with certification and the appropriate classes. So out of our 93 environmental service technicians, 145 now have their basic training certification which is

141the entry level. Uh our beginning ESTs or EST ones and then 63 33% of our ESTs have their master's certification which is a leadership certification which allows them to move up to EST2 leadership or EST3 leadership. Um last year we had 187 environmental service technicians with uh 37 having their basic training and 13 of the ESTs having their master certification. So that's been quite a goal for our uh us this uh year with our director of environmental services Mr. Kublick. Um the classes are offered three times a year. Uh they cover 10 weeks. The basic trainings cover uh product safety, correct handling of chemicals and equipment, cleaning routines and procedures, hard floor care and carpet care, uh restroom cleaning procedures, and hands-on training with equipment and work schedules. Our uh master training works on attitude

142and professionalism in the workplace, leadership skills, communication skills, uh enter the uh work orders in school dude and how to operate that uh through maintenance and um chain of uh command communication and creating uh work schedules, understanding the break times and those types of things. Uh the second one is improving the annual rate of school cleanliness report. Uh this uh the environment manager of environmental services works with the uh school administration and the ESTs. Uh working with a rubric covering uh three categories. Perimeter of campus and how that looks. Uh the campus inside itself, building, interior halls, floors, uh classrooms, restrooms, and cafeteria. Uh he'll have that rubric. He'll send it to the principal, the administrators and then in asked to be invited to come down come out and meet with them and they just

143uh discuss positives and negatives of the uh the campus. >> Mr. Johnson, >> I I I just want to thank you uh for how quickly you respond when we get complaints of something being wrong someplace. They get resolved. even the lights of challengers have seemed to go away. So, I want to appreciate that. And the lights are on in in in Hernando High School as well. So, >> I I thank you. I can't I thank you for the uh recognition and all, but that goes back to our maintenance folks and those guys that go out there and do the job every day. I mean, we got a great staff in that uh our ESTs at the schools, but also our maintenance staff in the back. They're not, their departments are kind of small, but they

144get out there and they do their thing and just, you know, all of them. Every department, I don't want a single one department out, but they're all outstanding and excellent. >> Thank you, >> M. Rodriguez. >> Before you leave, I don't know how to say the last name. You might know who it is, but at Wikiwatchi High, we have a custodian, Frank Buenaggero. >> Yes, Frank. >> Is that how I'm saying it? They call him the C2 Frank. >> Okay. So he would be he would he normally how it works in all my years here is C2 which is uh they're the night they oversee the night custodians usually some some places do have them uh the C2 or the EST2 on on days and the C3 is the uh normally the leader of the

145the the group uh that's the person who goes and talks to the principles. they're the lead of uh so how the how it works is your C3 is your EST3 is your highest person um that would be your leader your department head person and then your C2 would be second in command and then your ESTs they all would be well they're all assigned to a zone of cleaning the campus and it goes by square square footage of the campus so when I was at schools we would kind of take a map of the campus and divide up all the square feet to make it as even as possible. Color code it and say, "Okay, this EST has this section of the room or the campus, this EST has the other, you know, and they divide

146it up." So, if you had 12 uh ESTs like our EK8s do, there'd be 12 different zones and they would work those those zones. So, that's kind of how it is at all the schools because like our elementary, they have about six ESTs. Our middle schools have uh six as well. than uh K8s and high schools have 12 and 11 on average. >> Well, the other evening I was at Wikiwatchi High for a future business leaders of America induction ceremony. My daughter was inducted for vice president and I was sitting with the principal and when it was all over they had to put all the tables back and do everything. This gentleman walked in and he was very very polite, just very nice. Um and Mr. Larose commented. He said he is top-notch. He said

147he's always polite, always looking to help. and he said and he's a leader. He just comes in and he just takes over and he makes sure everything is done. Um he says there's a lot of events this year of course at this time of the year and he's always willing to jump in and assist wherever he's needed. Yes, ma'am. >> So I just wanted to say that he's definitely a role model. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any further questions or discussion? >> Mr. Crognelli, you said something that it's the departments, right? >> No different than Mr. Le. It's his departments. It's his guys underneath him. >> Right. >> But the reality is it comes to the top person and how they make sure their people do what they're supposed to do. >> Yes, ma'am.

148>> So, I appreciate you for everything you do. I also appreciate Mr. Leaf for everything he does. Um, >> again, it it starts at the top and what you expect out of everybody underneath you and that's what gets the jobs done. >> Thank you. >> So, I appreciate that. >> Yes, ma'am. >> One last thing on him. So, Wikiwatchi is a little different than other schools. um they have to use the auditorium and performance center allin one for the cafeteria. So he has to reorganize that for all of the different events. So that's tearing it all down, putting it all back. It's a lot of work for one room to utilize it for all of those different components. And he does it and never complains. >> No, that's good stuff. >> I think you need

149to make sure you tell him something. >> I will. >> Okay. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. And at this time, Mr. Myers, do you have any closing comments? >> I still don't have any comments. All right, perfect. Schoolboard members? No. All right, so at this time, this meeting is adjourned at 4:01 p.m. Thank you.